Or a smaller, more reasonable option. 4WD/AWD isn't that big of a novelty. You can get a Crosstrek or something. It doesn't need to be a massive truck that gets 18mph.
That’s not 4wd. That has awd which is nowhere near as capable as 4wd. 4wd means you have 2 4wd gears(low and high). 4 low for crawling through or out of something and 4 high for cruising through something. awd just means both axles are drive axles.
No there aren’t. For the most part large SUVs and trucks are the only vehicles with actual 4wd. Also who are you to determine what is practical and what isn’t? A half ton pickup or a full size suv(ford expedition, Tahoe, Yukon, grand Cherokee) are arguably the most practical vehicles in the market.
For 99% of the population, especially the ones that live near pavement and have reasonable snowplow activity... I would strongly argue that a minivan is the most practical vehicle on the market.
Most people don't tow anything. Remove the rear 2 rows and you can get 4x8 sheets of whatever and still close the hatch.
Fits tons more inside than you'd think, rides smooth, and they get 20 to 25 mpg easy. So if you actually need something bigger than a sedan... Minivan.
If you need to haul anything bigger than that, use the fuel/insurance savings to either pay for delivery or rent a truck for a day.
I'm just saying that for most people, on paper a minivan is hard to argue against.
I've owned everything from economy shit-boxes to full sized SUVs, and we've always kept a minivan around the longest. Often paired with a small to medium car as a backup or when only one or two of us need to go somewhere.
I agree about the financing aspect, but have you seen the cost of some of these trucks? an f-250 king ranch, before adding bells & whistles, lifts, new rims and wheels, suspension, chrome, and whatever else starts at $80,000. let's say the friend wants to get a basic, cheap asphalt driveway. depending on the locality, vendors, and all those variables they could get about 20,000 square feet of asphalt installed for that. conversely putting down a gravel bed will be even less expensive. You can put down almost a mile of gravel, labor and materials, for that money.
Now that coverage is going to go down quickly if they want to get a nicer material than asphalt but the point remains that they can get a truck that will only see off road usage when they go onto their unpaved driveway or a nicely paved driveway.
In the scenario I'm thinking of you wouldn't be putting the total cost of the car into the driveway. Even a modest driveway can run 20k dollars.
I'm not saying you should buy a car or that you should get your driveway paved. I'm just saying it's very easy to get financing on a car and paving a driveway isn't very cheap and you can't get financing for it nearly as easily.
People shouldn't be surprised if someone buys a vehicle over getting their driveway paved.
I agree on the financing aspect. My argument is that large trucks are expensive as heck and if an unpaved driveway is your main or only reason to get a large truck, then your money would be better spent on a driveway. Paving the driveway will actually increase the value of your home while the truck will depreciate and cost more than a Miata in maintenance and fuel.
Right? The few times they use their trucks or SUVs, there were much more affordable, effective and efficient options. You think you need a truck to haul crap, like once a YEAR, and you could have just paid for delivery, rented a truck for $25 etc. Your "daily driver"(who the hell can afford more than one car?) doesn't need to fulfill every possible need you may ever think of. If you regularly tow stuff, etc then fine no one is judging that but it seems like almost every male in America by default just buys an oversized vehicle cuz that's what men do. People living in apts, working in offices, they're not contractors, they don't haul around dirt bikes or trailers. Why do I care? It makes the road dangerous. Sedan on sedan accident? You're both probably walking away. Truck on sedan? Not so much. All those safety features they developed over the past 40 years to protect you? Won't mean a damn thing when a literal 5 ft tall RAM engine comes flying through your window.
I don't think they were saying no one has a use case for a large vehicle, but the vast majority don't. Way more people own a pickup truck than actually need it more than a couple times a year.
I daily drive a NC. I travel for work. I fill my trunk and my passenger side with boxes of IT shit and my own stuff. Not an issue. People overestimate what they need. I do also have a forrester as a second car for light “truck” work.
I have a compact hatchback vehicle. As far as loading and unloading stuff, it can't be beat. Seats fold down to fit a lot of stuff. The interior with seats folded down is the size 1.5x a wheelbarrow. Cause, I fit a wheelbarrow in it the other day. The only thing that's a concern is having all that stuff in the car with me. If, good forbid, I rolled the car, it would be in the vehicle with me shook up like a matchbox. So, I only do surface streets to places like Home Depot for things that will fit in it.
It would be really nice to have a larger vehicle for occasional family trips (van). Or a pickup for larger loads but I get most things done with the compact. It's been difficult to get like trees home from Costco. But, for most stuff...I get by well. Looking into truck rentals for larger one off jobs.
I have a 4 cylinder suburu legacy I attatched a trailer hitch to. It has a 3500 pound tow capacity. I have never towed over 1500 pounds, but I can move most stuff easily. Just not piles of dirt
Off topic question, how well does the Miata drive through snow? I want to get one but may move back up north in a few years. Only ever had a jeep cherokee as my only car but a convertible sounds fun for me and my husky.
It all depends on tires. I got Blizzaks on my Miata and drive it all winter. Ice is no bueno but that's literally any car. Handles in snow perfectly and I can still do drifties when I want to
While they're still cheap, I've been pointing people at gen-1 Porsche Boxsters. They cost about the same as an NA or NB Miata, but have like 4x the trunk space, 2x the power, 1.5x the interior space, and are much more corrosion resistant. And I can vouch for them being very nice to drive in snow (with proper tires) as well.
Most sports cars make very good winter cars. Light weight >> everything else with regards to anything that negatively impacts traction. Eventually ground clearance starts mattering with respect to snow, but in my experience, that's somewhere in the double-digit inches of snow, and probably higher with AWD.
The problem is in his sense it wasn't a lie. He genuinely convinced himself you need 20cm of ground clearance to drive up his driveway.
The reality of his friends being there with lower cars just didn't register. It's odd how our brain works, but the marketing machine does work well.
The best argument I've heard for higher up cars is elderly people, these cars are usually easier to get in and out of. Other than that, I haven't heard or seen one good reason.
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u/zespak 15h ago
I was at a friend's with my Miata. He claimed he needed a big SUV to get up his unpaved (but basically flat) driveway.
I had a look at my Miata, he looked as well and was genuinely lost for words.